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Are the people from the former Yugoslavia pleased with Croatia’s success in the World Cup? Yes.

Are the people from the former Yugoslavia pleased with Croatia’s success in the World Cup? Yes.

A collage of the Croatia national team surrounded by flags of other ex-Yugoslavia countries was posted on Facebook along with a list of things that connect them. The post, titled “Here’s why all former Yugoslavia should support Croatia”, received over 10K reactions and 6K shares. Image by Stefan Simić, from Belgrade, used with permission.

Despite losing this year’s World Cup final to France, Croatia’s success story resonated with fans around the world — after all, who doesn’t love to see an underdog defeating some of the mightiest national teams, including two-time champion Argentina?

But praise coming from the former Yugoslavia region felt particularly special. As its only representative to have made it to the knockout stage, Croatia inspired numerous positive reactions from across the Balkans, defying the historic ethnic tension between the neighboring nations.

Such a reaction came, for example, by one of the region’s most famous celebrities: Serbian tennis player Novak Đoković, who sealed his fourth Wimbledon title also on July 15. Earlier this month, he told a reporter that he would be supporting Croatia in the then-upcoming World Cup final:

I [now] support Croatia and I hope they will win the title. I don’t know who’s the real favorite [for the championship title]. The World Cup is an unpredictable contest, as we can see from the fact that Germany and Argentina, previous finalists, were knocked out.

Writing for Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji, local journalist Ante Tomić pointed out that Croatia’s goalkeeper Danijel Subašić, hailed a hero after defending three penalties against Denmark, is a member of Croatia’s minority ethnic Serbian community.

…Across our country… everybody screamed with ecstasy to a paradoxical event when, besides over five hundred thousands registered war veterans, our homeland was defended by a Serb.

Whatever happens until the end of the World Cup in Russia, is irrelevant to me after this. Subašić’s defense of three penalty kicks in itself is a great historic victory which brings tears to one’s eyes, as a triumph of humanity against hatred and stupidity. There was no better moment for it because the football World Cup, with all its flags, national anthems, hands over harts and faces painted in war paints is a first-class nationalist event. Possibly nationalism inflames the masses even more than displayed sports skills. Even more than Modrić’s dribbling and Rabić’s volleys, the displayed red and white squares contribute to the record sales of beer and potato chips. In that insuferrable madness of blood and soil, we needed Danijel Subašić to jump as a panther and kick the ball into a corner and irrevocably prove that nationalism is total shit.

Nevertheless, some Serbian nationalists reacted negatively to Serbian support for Croatia. According to one Twitter user, “no Croat would ever root for Serbia”.

In response, many on social media pointed out the fact that in August 2017, the Croatian basketball players publicly supported the Serbian female team after the latter had made it to the finals of FIBA Under-18 Women’s European Championship.

At the time, a photo of the Croatian players, wearing the national team’s uniform and with the word “Serbia” painted on their faces, inflamed the internet.

New tweet: When they teach you to hate other peoples take a look at these youths from Serbia and Croatia as they together celebrate Serbia’s entry into the Junior European Championship in 2017.Quoted tweet with video: This youth is the future of Serbia and Croatia. Without hatred and evil the female basketball players celebrate Serbia’s entry in the EC final.

A shared heritage

There is some controversy on how FIFA handles each team’s historical record when countries change names and borders.

Former Yugoslavia had many great masters, big stars, football icons respected by whole Europe.

From Montevideo 1930, to Chile 1962, to Šekularac, Skoblar, Jerković and the others, the Đajić generation of the early 1970s, and the powerful team of Pižon, Šurjak and Sušić which disapointed in Spain 1982, to Stojković, Savićević, Prosinečki and their comrades who lost by penalties in the quarter finals of the World Cup in Italy 1990.

And none of them, absolutely no one, hadn’t achieved what on the historical 11 June 2018 achieved Zlatko Dalić and his players in Russia.

Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Mario Mandžukić, Dejan Lovren, Ante Rebić, Danijel Subašić and the other boys whose names will remain written with golden letters in the history of Croatian football managed to put a closure to the dream of generations of citizens of the former state.

They managed to surpass the “fiery” generation of Croats from 1998 – Boban, Šuker, Prosinečki, Asanović, Jarni, Bilić, won the bronze at the World Cup in France, a success which very few believed can be exceeded.

A day of victories

With Croatia playing in Moscow and Đoković in Wimblendon, subscribers of this new, inclusive spirit truly (and literally, for some) had a field day on July 15.

Saluting the Croatian team, Serbian blogger and writer Igor Čobanović posted a collage with Croatian and Serbian flags with a spoof of the well-known Balkan proverb “may the neighbor’s cow croak!” — it means that one should always enjoy the other’s misfortune, even when not advancing their own benefit.

The worst thing for the Balkan political elites is if the peoples start to sincerely root for each others’ sports teams, to establish a continuous cooperation in culture and arts, and the media to start producing joint programs.